MEET YOUR PEERS
A LESSON IN AGILITY :
adapting Gatsby to COVID restrictions in Wales
Kate Owen , manager of the Gatsby Good Career Benchmarks pilot in Wales , explains how she has been supporting 22 schools during the COVID pandemic , adapting the framework in response to constant change .
aving been an assistant head in a secondary
H school for 12-plus years and a teacher for 25 , I was seconded to run the Gatsby pilot for Wales in Rhondda Cynon Taf , which includes some of the most deprived areas in Wales . We have similar demographics to Newcastle , which is where they piloted Gatsby in England . My role is to educate schools about the careers leader role , the Gatsby principles , and then audit the benchmarks accordingly .
Our pilot started in January 2019 , involving 22 schools , which include pupil referral units , special needs schools , four Welsh-speaking schools and three ‘ through ’ schools ( 3-19 ) as well as secondary schools .
At the last steering group meeting in December 2019 , all 22 schools had completed their Gatsby audits and were showing signs of progress . We were due to have our careers leader conference , with growing numbers of participants and schools beginning to see the benefit of the benchmark approach . And then the schools had to shut due to COVID-19 .
Shouldering the burden
Hoping to take some of the burden of preparation for hastily prepared remote learning away from the careers leaders , I developed work for them to send home to their pupils . I wanted to do my bit to support the schools who had so diligently taken part in the Gatsby pilot . I scoured the internet looking for resources that could be helpful , sending them to the schools with a message reminding them that I would help in any way I could .
One morning , feeling particularly downhearted , imagining all the hard work we had done fading away , it dawned on me . Instead of waiting to restart our pilot work when this is all over – that magic date in the future when we can get back to the way we were – I realised that we need to be open to the prospect that some things will never be the same again . When pupils return to school and college their career aspirations may well be framed with a different backdrop and one that they need to be prepared for now .
Gatsby actually gives a really nice framework for this kind of everchanging crisis because it provides a structure . It ’ s something we can keep amending constantly .
When pupils return to school and college their career aspirations may well be framed with a different backdrop , and one that they need to be prepared for now
Developing lockdown benchmarks
I set about working on benchmark criteria that schools could use now to track careers interventions and learning that pupils are receiving remotely , supported by an understanding of the evolving labour market . I worked with the Rhondda Cynon Taf Employment , Education and Training team to provide new and innovative resources for our schools and signposted the many resources on offer from Careers Wales .
Our lockdown benchmarks ( now ‘ interim benchmarks ’) ask that if a careers leader is deployed elsewhere , then other designated staff should work together to fill that substantial gap . The interim version of our pilot work asks schools to track the number of virtual experiences pupils have of the workplace , apprenticeship providers and colleges , crucially logging which pupils have accessed resources so that we know who may need more intensive support in the future . It includes all of the elements of the Gatsby Benchmarks but from a distance . Right now , it ’ s the best we can do .
Essentially , we took The Careers & Enterprise Company ’ s guidance around what good looks like and then , next to that , we outlined what that could look like in the current circumstances . That ’ s an ever-changing feast during COVID because things are moving all the time and there are so many different resources becoming available online and interactively . “ What could good look like now ?” is our mantra for the moment .
Co-ordinating virtual work experience
The local authority is our largest local employer and we have been working with its Employment , Education and Training team to put together virtual work experience for students across our 22 schools . Pupils have been able to do interactive tasks , accessing videos of council employees ( from social workers to HR managers ) explaining their roles .
We developed the work experience in a fairly short time because schools needed a resource to enable pupils to have an encounter with employers . Since then , we ’ ve had guidance from The Gatsby Foundation , talking about how a good interaction with an employer needs to be a two-way interaction . While we completely agree , we felt at the time that something was better than nothing . We were relying on council employees to give up their time and were filming on smartphones and editing on laptops .
The lessons we learned , in terms of skills and equipment needed , were enormous for us as a team . We received some really good feedback and a good number of pupils taking part in those activities , which has allowed us to start planning and developing further .
‘ What could good look like now ?’ is our mantra for the moment
Mentoring for disengaged students
I try to touch base with each careers leader at least once a week because it ’ s important to remember that we ’ re talking about individuals working in really difficult circumstances . I let them know that I ’ m here as a resource and am prepared to think outside of the box .
At the moment , we ’ re offering schools fortnightly resources that we ’ re pulling in from different directions , while giving them space to deal with the revolving door of COVID restrictions . We ’ re also looking at online mentoring platforms and online internships .
Pupils ’ morale and motivation is challenging , and to help address this , I ’ ve put together something called ‘ Gatsby Plus ’, a mentoring package for a small group of pupils in years 10 and 11 . We ’ ve taken out some of the principles of the Gatsby Benchmarks and magnified them into a package that schools can use to ensure that those pupils who are feeling really disengaged get at least one good experience with a work placement ( currently online ).
Before the pandemic , my core message to careers leaders was that we tell young people all the time to “ reach for the stars ”; but many of our pupils don ’ t know what their star looks like . Unless we show them , they will never have those career ambitions or know what they are reaching for . Today , that ’ s even more crystallised . With this group of disaffected , unmotivated pupils , we ’ ve got to shine a light on what the future could look like , and we ’ ve got to do it in innovative ways .
Staying connected and positive
We ’ re having to amend our expectations all the time , but at the same time , keep in everyone ’ s mind that careers education is crucial . We have cohorts of young people coming through , facing an ever-changing labour market , and we need to make sure that they still have that thread of what that future career goal could look like , and they can continue to focus on that .
I ’ m mindful that pressures on schools are many and varied . We know that achieving the benchmarks in our usual way is difficult and aspirational and asks a lot . ‘ Good ’ looks different to the way it did a few short months ago . However , all the schools I ’ m working with agree that we will continue to strive towards each and every child having the best careers education we can offer .